.- ' ":'•',''•'-? , ! i /-; '"'. ;'':'._ • : . -' •• • "\ • ,• Issued July, 19S4. JV U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. ^\ INVENTORi OF SEEDS AND PLANTS * IMPORTED BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JULY 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1922. (No. 72; Nos. 55569 TO 55813.) WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1924. Issued July, 1924. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JULY 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1922. (No. 72; Nos. 55569 TO 55813.) WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. ADDITIONAL COPIES OF TfflS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED PROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PER COPY CONTENTS. : . -• • r Page. Introductory statement 1 Inventory 5 Index of common and scientific names 39 ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE I. A young specimen of the mu-yu shu, or mu-oil tree. iAleurites montana (Lour.) Wilson; S. P. I. Nos. 55647 to 55650) 14 II. The carambola, a favorite fruit of southern China. (Averrhoa cwambola L.; S. P. I. Nos. 55651 and 55652) 14 III. An attractive relative of the magnolias. (Michelia excelsa Blume; S. P. I. No. 55690) 14 IV. A new wild rose from southwestern China. (Rosa sp.; S. P. I. No. 55721) 24 V. A new hybrid pear. (Pyrus serotina X communis; S. P. I. No. 55805) 24 in INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT IN- TRODUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JULY 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30,1922 (NO. 72; NOS. 55569 TO 55813). INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. The Chinese Province of Yunnan has in the past }Tielded many interesting ornamental plants to European collectors, but this in- ventory records the first time that an agricultural explorer from the Department of Agriculture has penetrated its mountain slopes and vast plains, where a climate similar to that of our Atlantic sea- hoard prevails. While no such severe weather as that of the Dakotas ever visits this back country of China, it is a land of heavy frosts, and plants from its plains may be expected to do well in many parts of our Eastern States, while those from its wetter mountain slopes will doubtless find a congenial home in the Puget Sound region. The plants which appear in this inventory represent a small frac- tion only of the great collections which the department's explorer, J. F. Rock, has gathered under conditions of living and travel which would daunt any but the real enthusiast. His travels have taken him over hundreds of miles of almost impassable mountain trails and roads through regions where Chinese bandits abound and have necessitated a constant association month after month with people who neither understand what he is doing nor care regarding his fate. From the Likiang Snow Range, at an altitude of 11,000 feet, Mr. Rock sent six rare lilies, one of them Lilium Hutchuenense (No. 55609), and five others as yet undetermined (Nos. 55610, 55730, and 55778 to 55780). From Likiang he forwarded seeds of a white- flowered ornamental bush (Prhisepia iitilis; No. 55719), a fine climb- ing rose (No. 55721), and a wild species of cherry (No. 55720) that grows to 50 feet in height which he suggests may be used as a stock for the cultivated cherries. At Nguluke, in the Likiang Valle}^, 8,000 feet above sea level, Mr. Rock found a small, sour, red-fruited apricot (Pruims armeniaca; No. 55729) of deliciously fragrant aroma, which is used there for stewing and jam making, and in the foothills of Talifu he obtained seeds of the rare cherry (P. majestica; No. 55732) which grows into large trees and has a vigor suggesting its use as a stock or as an ornamental flowering tree. Seeds from large freestone peaches (Amygdalus verxica; Nos. 55775 and 55776) borne by trees growing wild near Puerhfu and seeds of a large- fruited plum (Prunm sp.; No. 55783) from the same region are part of his shipments which have recently arrived. I 2 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. H. E. Wright, of Auckland, New Zealand, to whom the department is indebted for many valuable collections of new fruit varieties, has sent his "Sunrise" (No. 55740), a very early variety of peach, and "Watts Early" (No. 55741), a peach worth testing in Florida be- cause of the unusually short resting period which it requires. He also sent the Groverly Navel orange {Citrus sinensis; No. 55743), which is reported to be a large-sized variety with a habit for crop- ping which should make it worth a trial both in California and Florida. G. Weidman Groff, of the Canton Christian College, has sent from South China a collection of trees, including the mu-oil tree (Aleurites montana; Nos. 55647 to 55650), some varieties of persim- mon (Diospyros kaki; Nos. 55659 and 55660), an undetermined species of Diospyros (No. 55062), an interesting rare ornamental (Millettia dielsiana; No. 55663), two varieties of the carambola. (Averrhoa carambola; Nos. 55651 and 55652), a fruit tree recently attracting attention in southern Florida, and a large promising ornamental tree from the Five Finger Mountains (X age la cupres- sina; No. 55664). F. A. McClure, also of the Canton Christian College, secured for the department during his recent exploration of the island of Hainan, off the coast of South China, several interesting plants (Nos. 55626 to 55632) and from Lokong in Kwantung seeds of 13 named varie- ties of Primus mume (Nos. 55633 to 55645), from which some valu- able strains of this lovely flowering tree may originate in this country. Prof. C. S. Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretum, has favored the department with material from a new hardy Chinese shrub (Prinse- pia sinensis; No. 55711) whose yellow flowers appear very early in the spring and entitle it to a j^tace in every North Atlantic garden, even should its fruits not meet with an enthusiastic reception in America. The genus with its several species is worthy of the at- tention of American horticulturists. The success which attended the introduction through this office many years ago of the hairy Peruvian alfalfa is a matter of history. Crops of it worth several million dollars are grown every year in southern California. Growers will watch with interest the intro- duction now of the so-called San Pedrana variety (Medicago sativa; No. 55724) from Peru which, according to Mr. Dunn, is cut every 45 days. Although it is yet too soon to predict the ultimate fate of the low- land Guatemalan anona in southern Florida, its growth there has been so satisfactory that a large quantity of seed of this species (Annona, diversifolia; No. 55709) has been imported from Tapa- chula. The so-called subterranean clover of Australia {Trifolium sub- terraneum; No. 55707), which was introduced several years ago, has shown so much promise in the Southern States that a second importation of seeds has been necessary. A beautiful Australian shade tree, Vitex littoralis* grew 30 feet tall at Del Monte, Calif., years ago, but was cut down by a tempera- ture of 17° F. A New Zealand species of this same genus {V. lucens; No. 5&620) may prove hardier than its relative. JULY 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1922. 3 It seems strange that a magnificent tree in the mountain gorges of the great African continent should be in danger of becoming ex- tinct, but such is the case. In fact, so fast are some of the wonderful forest trees of the globe disappearing that our grandchildren, even when they circle the world through the air, will not have the supreme pleasure which the Africanders had, as, traveling at a snail's pace with ox teams across the veldt, they stood in the presence of the leafy giants of the Milanji cypress, whose crowns rose 140 feet above the earth. From Southern Rhodesia W. L. Thompson, of the American Board Mission, has sent the department seed of this wonderful tree (Gallitris whytei; No. 55602) which survives now only in the gorges of that region not visited by forest fires, and it is hoped that these may grow and establish themselves in other regions. G. H. Cave, the curator of the Lloyd Botanic Gardens at Darjiling, to whom in the past the department has been indebted for many courtesies, has sent a remarkable collection of seeds of Himalayan ornamental and economic trees and shrubs (Nos. 55669 to 55706). It includes one of the hill bamboos (Cephalostachyum capitatum; No. 55676) ; a yellow-flowered clematis (G. grewiaeflora; No. 55677) ; a species of that small genus to which belongs the Japanese loquat (Eriobotrya hookeriana; No. 55679) with egg-shaped yellow fruits three-fourths of an inch long, possibly useful for breeders or as. a stock; Ilex insignis (No. 55682), which has proved hardy in Ireland: a bright-flowered Indigofera (No. 55683) ; the famous pink-flowered Himalayan magnolia (Magnolia compbellii; No. 55688) ; three species of Michelia (Nos. 55689 to 55691), trees with magnolialike flowers and foliage, one of them the principal timber tree of the Darjiling Hills; the Himalayan spruce (Picea smithiana; No. 55694) ; and a Himalayan cherry (Pmnus napaulensis; No. 55696) from an altitude of 10,000 feet. Guarana is a paste that is much used by the natives of the Amazon Valley to make a beverage which contains caffein and, like cacao and coffee, is a stimulant. It is prepared from the grapelike fruits of a climbing shrub [Paullinia cupana; No. 55738), the culture of which in Brazil has been a lucrative industry. Seeds of this shrub have been presented by Doctor da Costa, of Rio de Janeiro.